SecretArea
by Darkrealmist v.2
Summary: Oyama Chisao and Kosuke accidentally happen upon a cave beneath the Urakawa Inn, hidden entrance to the unspoken Secret Area of the Undernet. [Animeverse. Chisao & Kosuke friendship. No slash]


SecretArea

Author's Note: As I did in my other fic "Topspin", I am referring to Kosuke's unnamed Navi from the anime as "Magogomaman" (lit. "Grandson Topman"). Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Rockman EXE series.

Summary:

Oyama Chisao and Kosuke accidentally happen upon a cave beneath the Urakawa Inn, hidden entrance to the unspoken Secret Area of the Undernet.

* * *

"Kosuke-kun, are you done? The water's gunna get cold with how slow you're going, chu!"

Oyama Chisao was hyperbolizing. Yokayoka's famous hot springs weren't freezing over any time soon. He was just sick of loitering while Kosuke put on his yukata, so they could grab some towels, shuck them, and launch feetfirst into the muscle-soothing outdoor baths.

"It can wait!" Kosuke emerged behind the noren, annoyingly, still wearing his street clothes.

"Why aren't you dressed yet, chu?"

"I found something! Come see!" He clacked down the floorboards in sandals, the sole pieces of formal costuming he took care to change into.

Kosuke was stepping on a lot of rigid traditions concerning onsen. Usually, it was Chisao who disobeyed the rules (to say nothing of Hikari Netto's unruliness).

"Here!"

Chisao followed around the unoccupied pool, next to a lion-faced tub jet gushing a rejuvenating spray.

"It's a rock, chu…What's so special about that?"

"Look closer."

Squinting, Chisao ascertained a thin crack in the stone. A narrow crevice concealing a set of metal doors built within the boulder. By squeezing through the gap, one could gain entrance.

"A hidden elevator, chu! Where does it lead?"

"I don't know. I haven't ridden it. Wanted to show you first!"

Cramming inside, the taller of the two pushed the button for the subbasement, and the lift plummeted. When they alighted, Kosuke blundered glibly into a tripwire, initiating the underground facility's laser defence grid, which compressed them from either end of the hall. The elevator also shut and refused to reopen, sealing their only escape.

"Now you've done it! This place is boobytrapped, chu! We're being squished!"

"Like the trash compactor scene in that movie, _StarPotter Reloaded_? 'Will it be space, magic, or the virtual world that wins?' SO COOL!"

"Stop admiring the death rays trying to kill us! We're in real danger! _Think_, chu!"

"You're the genius! What do _you_ think we should do?"

"Um, um, um!" Chisao panicked. "Isn't that a computer console? Plug-in, chu!"

"OK!" Kosuke pulled out his PET. "Plug-in, Magogomaman! Transmission!"

Magogomaman arrived in an unidentified zone arrayed with checkered panels, bordering porcelain tiles and a calm, sparkling sea. To spare his operator and his operator's friend an unjustly early expiration, he speedily accessed and overrode the security system's controls. The beams ceased progressing along the corridor, but did not switch off entirely.

Feeling the heat coursing the electric pen's bars, Chisao gulped.

"Why hasn't the laser net deactivated, Magogomaman?"

"I'm not sure, Kosuke-kun," his Navi admitted remorsefully.

Three towers appeared in front of Magogomaman. Marking each was a number. The green numeral "1" crowned a single silver column, and the grey numeral "2" crowned twin black columns.

"Are those viruses?"

"Not any I've seen before, chu."

"Intruder detected! Leave immediately!" a severe recording warned.

"Leave? How do they expect us to do that when these lasers are up? Go through the wall?"

"Scientifically speaking, quantum tunnelling is speculative fiction, chu."

"Quantum wha –? You know what? Forget I asked! If they're viruses, we can bust 'em! Battle Chip, Cannon! Slot-in!"

The top-based Navi blasted the monoliths indiscriminately, yet none sustained visible breakage.

"ERROR! DELETE!"

"Move, chu!" Chisao snatched command. "Battle Chip, Aura! Slot-in!"

He acted expediently enough that the pillars' retaliatory lighting strike fizzled out across the shield he downloaded.

"Whew! A second more, and he'd have been yakiniku, chu!"

"How'd you guess the viruses would fight back?"

"I didn't guess! It's math, chu!"

"Math?"

"The towers are numbered 1 and 2. You can't fire randomly, chu."

"You've lost me."

"2 comes after 1." He dumbed it down. "We must destroy them in the same order, chu! And according to Magogomaman's scans, the attack received if you shoot wrong counters for 1,000 hit points of damage!"

"Minus 1,000? That's whack! What are these things guarding?"

"No idea, chu, but a Program Advance is our safest bet!" Chisao reasoned. "Battle Chip, Sword! Wide Sword! Long Sword!"

"Program Advance! Dream Sword!" Magogomaman cleaved the center post.

The boys held their breath.

No reprisal. Chisao's hypothesis proved correct.

"It worked! Me next!"

"Hang on! They're both labelled 2, chu!"

"So? We finished #1 already!"

"There's no #3! We have to beat 'em together, or Magogomaman's as good as deleted, chu! Meaning –"

"You're still calling the shots because you're smarter. I gotcha!" Kosuke conceded.

Chisao thumped his chest proudly over his achievements. "I'm a better NetBattler than you too, chu! Program Advance! Battle Chip, Elec Shock! Triple slot-in!"

Magogomaman's Thunder Bolt gave the enemy a taste of their own medicine, frying them until they were atoms, and taking the lasers offline.

"Wahoo! Battle routine executed!"

"Kosuke-kun? I wouldn't be celebrating just yet," his partner cautioned.

A torn-cloaked wraith, similar in height and profile to the alien junker species populating Kosuke's beloved sci-fi fantasy film, floated creepily off the ground where the sentries last stood.

"Who are you?"

"I serve the highest-ranking Navi who rules these parts. Congratulations on defeating the Numbers."

"Thanks?"

"Your victory has earned you an audience with the almighty 'S' himself."

"Though we appreciate the invitation, we're late for a dip in the onsen, so bye, chu!" Chisao declined anxiously, forcing a stupidly curious Kosuke into the elevator after plugging out.

"Aren't we at least hearing what this guy has to say?"

"Nope, chu! Now press the button!"

"I'm pressing it! I'm pressing it! You don't have to shout!"

Curating the once again placid Secret Area, the shade reflected.

Peculiar humans. Disabling the Undernet's security protocol, then passing up a chance to duel the UnderKing.

Serenade would not be pleased.


End file.
